|
Fencing
Duel
A war of words is on at the Jammu border where India is trying to build
a fence to stop infiltration, much to
Pakistan's dislike, reports INDIA TODAY's Special Correspondent Ramesh
Vinayak.
It
is a hush hush affair. In the dead of the night, the Border Security Force
(BSF) men get into trenches along the Jammu border adjoining Pakistan
and get busy with the task of erecting a fence. Sometimes they take cover
behind bullet-proof sheets, for the Pakistani Rangers open fire at the
slightest suspicion.
Normally, India would immediately fire in retaliation, but not now. With
the cease-fire in the Valley, the Government is trying to fence the border,
the best way of stopping infiltration.
It is a job that has to be done, for it has paid dividends in Punjab and
brought infiltration down to a negligible level. In Jammu and Kashmir,
however, Pakistan has threatened to thwart such moves. Pakistan considers
the border in Jammu a working boundary, unlike in Kashmir, which it refers
to as the Line of Control (LoC). Hot words were exchanged recently between
the two neighbours, with India saying it had the right to construct defensive
structures as and when required to guard against Pakistan sponsored terrorism.
In such circumstances, secrecy in fencing the 197-km border has become
inevitable. At times, Pakistan does realise that something is happening
and threatens to take up the matter internationally. Describing the Jammu
border as a working boundary, according to Indian security officials,
is a calculated move by Pakistan as much to widen its territorial claim
on the Jammu region south of the LoC as to thwart any move by India to
plug the thinly manned walk-in and walk-out border. This route is increasingly
being preferred by the ISI-sponsored mercenaries and gun-runners to the
more arduous snow-capped mountainous paths over the Pir Panjal ranges.
On a vulnerable 40-km stretch of border in the Kathua sector, 97 militants
who crossed over from Pakistan were killed last year compared to just
15 in 1999.
On the ground, as the 8-ft-tall steel-and-concrete fence project gathers
pace, there are clear signs that Pakistan is desperate and the intensity
of firing has increased. Pakistan's opposition to our anti-infiltration
structures betrays its aggressive designs on Kashmir, says Vijay Raman,
IG, BSF, Jammu range. The BSF feels that the fence with its five strands
of electrified wires would be a strong deterrent to infiltration. It would
help the BSF cut down on manpower, temporary surveillance posts and enable
vehicular patrolling along the fence. The fence will make border surveillance
more effective, says Raman.
Pakistan scuttled India's move to fence the Jammu border in
1994 and it was only after the Kargil intrusion that Delhi took a firm
decision to complete the project, the only highly vulnerable stretch left
unplugged on the north-western border with Pakistan. BSF officials admit
infiltration goes on virtually unchecked despite more than 1,000 ambush
parties on vigil every night.
Encouraged by the success of the fence as a deterrent against infiltration
and smuggling in Punjab and Rajasthan where the 554-km and 1,000-km borders
with Pakistan have been fenced, the Union Home Ministry decided last June
to entrust the sensitive Jammu project to the BSF, a departure from the
previous attempt to have it executed through the Central Public Works
Department (CPWD).
Before the project got under way, it was preceded by a detailed topographic
survey of the border to be fenced. Unlike the CPWD, that had committed
the mistake of starting fencing under the direct observation of the Pakistani
Rangers, the BSF has, in the first phase, been prudent in selecting the
fencing sites. This phase entails closing off the Samba and Chicken Neck
areas where India has the tactical advantage of geography.
The strategy is to take as much advantage of the natural cover as possible
to dodge detection and fire from Pakistan. No wonder, the first stretch
of fencing, though located 800-1,000 metres from the border, has come
up in areas of depression or behind trees and thick growth of elephant
grass. Stretches directly exposed to Pakistani observation have been left
out for the time being. In the first phase, the sites have been aligned
at a distance from the border villages. The aim is twofold: to avoid cultivated
land from stretching up to the border line and to avoid panic migration
and public outcry in the event of Pakistani firing against the fencing.
Officials were careful not to mention the fencing even in the newspaper
tenders for work material lest Pakistan get to know
of the project. The BSF has also been careful not to hire civilian labour,
confining their involvement only to specialised technical jobs. Surprise
has been our main concern, says BSF DIG Ashok Sethi. Even so, at the biennial
meeting of the BSF and the Sutlej Rangers at Lahore last November, the
Pakistanis indirectly indicated their intentions to sabotage any fencing
project by India in the Jammu sector.
Pakistan has intensified firing to slow down the work but has so far failed
to deter the BSF: against the target of 15 km till March 31, the BSF has
fenced about 13 km. BSF officers believe that the intensity of firing
will increase once the fencing progresses to the stretches most used by
the infiltrators. Pakistan is using high-calibre weapons (12.7 mm, 14.5
mm) which can pierce metal at a distance of 800 m. In Kana Chak area,
suspecting that fencing work may progress behind the cover of elephant
grass, Pakistan set it afire when the wind blew towards India. It's a
cat and mouse game, says Raman. In certain places, the BSF has been able
to erect the fence as close as 800 m from the border right under Pakistan's
nose, thanks to the undulating land. In other places, the BSF is waiting
for the grass to grow to provide cover for the work. At local flag meetings,
BSF officers have dodged the Pakistani Rangers' by passing off suspicious
activities as a state Government move to reclaim forest land on the border.
In the past
51 days, the BSF has had a smooth run along a 7.2 km stretch. The cease-fire
has come to our rescue, says a BSF commandant involved in the project.
The BSF is pulling out all stops to complete as much of this year's target
of 50 km as possible before May 31 when the cease-fire expires. Though
the cost of raising a 1-km fence has been pegged at Rs 23 lakh, direct
purchase and execution by the BSF has brought it down to Rs 17 lakh.
The BSF is stretching itself by combining patrol duties with fencing work.
But the force is counting on the advantages this anti-infiltration structure
could provide. It would be a confidence booster for the force, says IG,
BSF (Operations), K. Vijay Kumar. In many ways, the BSF is drawing on
the Punjab experience in fencing. BSF officers in Punjab, of course, have
a different story to narrate. Reduction of the BSF strength on the Punjab
border has only encouraged breaching of the fence. In the past three years,
border patrols have detected four tunnels under the fence from the Pakistan
side. There have also been several cases of fence cutting. Recently, the
BSF recovered sophisticated German-made fence-cutters. A fence is an effective
obstacle only if it's well guarded by people, says IG, BSF (Punjab Frontier)
A.S. Aulukh. Which means that the Jammu border may yet constitute another
irritant in an already not-too-cordial relationship between the two neighbours.
|
|
|
|
|
